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Russian is past, Chinese is future?

 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
150 messages over 19 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 8 ... 18 19 Next >>
M-Squared
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7145 days ago

117 posts - 118 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 57 of 150
14 February 2006 at 11:26am | IP Logged 
One metric for the global significance or importance of a language would be what information is available in that language and no other. In other words, what information can you access only through the given language?

The logic for English is easy, there is an enormous scientific and technical literature that is only in English. Sure, a lot of things get translated, but only well after original publication.

As for other languages and other fields I don't have a clear idea. I know some people in the forum have noted that there is a lot of language material that is only available in French or German. It used to be that there was a large chemistry literature that was only in German. I don't know if that persists today. Some mathematics was hard to access outside of Russian or French in the past, but I think those days are gone.

Looking forward, there are now many scientific and technical journals in Mandarin. It may be that they will create a store of Mandarin-only information in the future.

Of course, on the cultural side there are large areas that can be accessed effectively only through the native language of that culture. But that is still generally only a regional, special interest thing. One exception might be Arabic, since Islam is a global religion and the core of Islamic culture materials are in Arabic.
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frenkeld
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6949 days ago

2042 posts - 2719 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German

 
 Message 58 of 150
14 February 2006 at 11:53am | IP Logged 
M-Squared wrote:
Looking forward, there are now many scientific and technical journals in Mandarin. It may be that they will create a store of Mandarin-only information in the future.


I also feel that the choice of a language for communicating in the fields of science and technology is one of the more interesting indicators of the language's importance, and an early one at that. Note the transition from German to English in the physical sciences even before WWII, after many scientists started fleeing Nazi Germany.

China does not yet appear very strong in research - the numbers are there, but the impact and the quality don't yet seem to be. This may change, however - at least in the US, the decline of interest in pursuing techincal subjects is sharp enough to be worrisome. So, if this trend is duplicated in Europe, and unless technical progress is supplanted by something else as a key engine of progress and prosperity, English may yet decline quite precipitously in significance, although some of the research winds up in India, which helps slow down the trend a bit.

Quote:
But that is still generally only a regional, special interest thing. One exception might be Arabic, since Islam is a global religion and the core of Islamic culture materials are in Arabic.


Well, the religion may be global, but an interest in it to the extent of deciding to learn Arabic is still a "special interest" activity for non-Muslims.

Edited by frenkeld on 14 February 2006 at 11:33pm

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Eriol
Diglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 6872 days ago

118 posts - 130 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Portuguese

 
 Message 59 of 150
28 February 2006 at 4:17am | IP Logged 
Apparently russian isn't losing ground everywhere:

http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublic ation=4&NrIssue=155&NrSection=1&NrArticle=15836

I won't go into the politics behind this, because frankly I don't quite understand it. The website www.tol.cz is worth checking out if you're interested in eastern europe or the former USSR.
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easyboy82
Pentaglot
Groupie
Italy
Joined 6836 days ago

72 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, French, English, Latin, Ancient Greek
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 60 of 150
30 March 2006 at 5:45pm | IP Logged 
Skandinav wrote:
I would say that on a global scale English is (becoming) a lingua franca, which is something else than a foreign language (e.g. Japanese)
All other languages are regional languages and within any given context subordinate to English. Even to a Mongolian or a Nepalese English is as important as Chinese Mandarine.
In a European context, for example, I would rate Chinese Mandarin after English, German, Russian and French. Probably somewhere on line with Arabic and Japanese.


I think that in an European context Chinese comes after ALL the European language.Don't forget Italian is the fourth most spoken language in the U.E : adding native speakers and those who learnt it as a foreign language it has more speakers then Spanish (official U.E data).
The U.E is made of 25 countries,we have to learn to speak   
with our neighbours and to share our wonderful and rich european cultures before learning Chinese!!!
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maxb
Diglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 7189 days ago

536 posts - 589 votes 
7 sounds
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 61 of 150
31 March 2006 at 5:11am | IP Logged 
easyboy82 wrote:


I think that in an European context Chinese comes after ALL the European language.Don't forget Italian is the fourth most spoken language in the U.E : adding native speakers and those who learnt it as a foreign language it has more speakers then Spanish (official U.E data).
The U.E is made of 25 countries,we have to learn to speak   
with our neighbours and to share our wonderful and rich european cultures before learning Chinese!!!


I don't agree that you have to. If you are interested in learning Chinese you should be able to learn it before you learn european languages. I started learning chinese because I wanted to see how it worked as linguistic system and how it was different from european languages. Even though I now have some opportunities to speak it, it is still this original interest which keeps me going.
I guess it is the challenge of it as well. Learning a Germanic or romance language just seems to easy :-)
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easyboy82
Pentaglot
Groupie
Italy
Joined 6836 days ago

72 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, French, English, Latin, Ancient Greek
Studies: Greek

 
 Message 62 of 150
01 April 2006 at 3:10am | IP Logged 
I think you're right about the linguistic point of view (i am not a supporter of language learning just for practical purpose )
What i meant is that Chinese in NOT more important than Czech,Greek or Swedish in Europe as someone stated in this thread.
Of course we can study it if we love its sound or are interested in its rich culture,but NOT because it is an important language to know to communicate in Europe.

Edited by easyboy82 on 01 April 2006 at 3:12am

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maxb
Diglot
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 7189 days ago

536 posts - 589 votes 
7 sounds
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 63 of 150
01 April 2006 at 8:07am | IP Logged 
easyboy82 wrote:

Of course we can study it if we love its sound or are interested in its rich culture,but NOT because it is an important language to know to communicate in Europe.


I agree with this. Anyway as I have written before on this forum I don't think anyone who only has business reasons for studying chinese will get very far with it. It just takes to much effort.
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banyon
Newbie
United States
Joined 6868 days ago

10 posts - 11 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 64 of 150
04 May 2006 at 2:44pm | IP Logged 
administrator wrote:


but from a strictly utilitarian perspective I wonder if I build my house in the right street.



I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but I'd encourage you not to build your house in any street. :)


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